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CUBA MUST BE FREE. 



The life of Spain, extoiuling over two thousand years, is written iu innocent 
blood, and is black with crime. 

Weyler's rule was absolutism, temjiered alone by murder and modilied by 
assassination. 

Tlie torch that has lighted Cuba so long must be extinguished, the shrieks of 
dying womeu and childi-en must be hushed, broken henrts must be bound up, 
wounds be healed, the prison pens be opened, and the people made free. 



SPEECH 



HON. WILLIAM V. ALLEN, 




C--^ t> *^ IN THE 

SEiNATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 1898. 



"WASHING-TON". 

1898. 



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SPEECH 

OF 

HON. WILLIAM V. ALLEN. 



The Senate having under consideration the following resolution reported 
from the Committee on Foreign Relations: 

R..oh-ed That the President be requested, if not mcompatible with the 
public interest, to transmit to the Senate all of the const.lar correspondence 
relating to the conduct of the war in the Island of Cuba, the condition of the 
people, and other matters relating thereto— 
Mr. ALLEN said: 

Mr. President: My zeal for Cuban independence is not new 
born, nor the growth of a mere night. I spoke for the liberation 
of the Cuban people when it was by no means a popular thing to 
do, and I recall very distinctly at this time that several years ago 
the then senior Senator from Florida [Mr. Call] and I were appar- 
ently the only persistent and outspoken friends of the Cuban people 
in this Chamber. We were indefatigable in our advocacy of in- 
dependence and intervention. We were so persistent that we 
incurred the displeasure of many Senators, some of whom I am 
now glad to know have become the sincere and fearless advocates 
of independence. That I may prove the correctness of my state- 
ment, I will refer briefly to the record. 

December 4, 1895, I introduced a resolution, of which this is a 
paragraph: 

That the Government of the United States of America should promptly 
recognize the revolutionists of Cuba, who are now honestly strugghng to 
secure their independence of the Sp.-niish Government, as composing an in- 
dependent nation and possessing the rights thereof according to the law of 
nations. 
And, in speaking in its support at that time, I said, among other 

things: 

I am of the number who believe that this Government should promptly 
recognize the revolutionists of Cuba and assist them in all lawful ways to 
secure their independence of the Spanish Government and enable them to 
establish an independent republic. I would not have this Government 
plunge headlong into a needless quarrel with the Spanish Government, but 
I would lend every assistance that could be lawfully and properly given to 
the aspirations of the people of Cuba for a republican form of government. 
3180 ^ 



I believe it to be the true policy and the true doctrine of our country that 
whenever a people show themselves desirous of establishing a repiiblican 
orm of government upon any territory adjacent to us they should receive 
our encouragement and support. If our form of government is the correct 
one-and of that I have no doubt-then its recognition or establishment in 
other lands should be encouraged, and when an opportunity shall present 
itself to us to lend this encouragement it should be promptly and effectually 
given. 
Speaking to the same resolution December 11, 1895, I urged its 

adoption. 
February 27, 1896, I said: 

What is there to prohibit this Government, by proper act of Congre"^, 
whether it be in the form of a joint or concurrent resolution, from declaring 
the acknowledgment of the existence of the Cuban Republic; and would 
not that be a recognition of the independency of that republic, although as 
a matter of fact it may not have yet succeeded in repelling the power that 
assails it? 

February 28 I introduced this resolution: 

Resolved, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, 
authorized and requested to issue a proclamation recognizing the Republic 
of Cuba as it exists under the constitution and form of government pro- 
claimed at Jimaguaya, under President Cisueros, in the month of May, A. D. 
1895, as a free and independent nation, and according the envoy extraordinary 
and minister plenipotentiary of said Republic all the rights and jn-ivileges 
accorded to the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the 
Government of Spain. 

And in its support said: 

The Cubans have an established republic. It may be feeble, it is true, but 
certainly those people are in possession of three-fourths of that island and 
Its life is maintained by their valor. 

When we declare that the Republic of Cuba is an independent and .sover- 
eign nation, it becomes such in the meaning of international law, so far as 
we are concerned, although its complete independence of Spain may not 
have been accomplished. If the conclusion reached by the Senator from 
Delaware and the Senator from California is to be accepted as final, there are 
no circumstances under which a struggling people can be recognized as inde- 
pendent until, unaided and alone, they are able to maintain a government 
independent of those again.st whom they are in revolt. This is not the inde- 
pendent government spoken of and recognized by international law. 

And again: 

Mr. President, I would go further in the interest of humanity than these 
resolutions propose to go. I would not only recognize the belligerent rights 
of Cuba, but I would establish her as one of the republics of this earth. If 
need be. I would mu.ster every man in the United States and every war ves- 
sel necessary to the accomplishment of the task, and I would erect on the 
ashes and ruins of Spain's control of that island a republic modeled after the 
institutions of our own. Sir, I would not only do that, but, if I had it in my 
power, I would admit the minister of the Republic of Cuba, feeble as it may 
be, unimportant in the eyes of the world as it may be, to the diplomatic cir- 
cles at this capital upon terms of equality with the minister from Spain. 

The same day, the Senate having under consideration a concur- 

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5 

rent resolution reported from the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
tions, declaring — 

That the United States of America should maintain a strict neutrality be- 
tween the contending powers, according to each all the rights of belligerents 
in the ports and territory of the United States. 

And— 

That the friendly offices of the United States should be offered by the 
President to the Spanish Government for the recognition of the independ- 
ence of Cuba. 

I offered as a substitute the resolution I have just quoted. A 
motion was made by Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, to lay my amendment 
on the table, and in support of it a yea-and-nay vote was taken, 
and the amendment was defeated — yeas 52. nays 17. 

March 19, 18.06. in discussing the constitutional power and the 

duty of the Government to recognize Cuban independence, I said, 

in reply to the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Caffery] : 

The Senator from Louisiana, as I said, is talking upon a very important 
question. Let it be conceded that authority may be found in international 
law applicable to the case of a kingdom or an empire, where the power of the 
executive is undoubted; but has the Senator any authority applicable to a 
Government like ours, where the governing power rests in three coordinate 
departments, which would lead him to believe that this high power is exclu- 
sive in the executive department? 

Again, March 30, 1896, in combating the contention of the 

Senator from Louisiana that the Supreme Court had jurisdiction 

to determine a question of belligerency, I declared: 

That the i)ower to recognize the belligerency or political independence of 
a people is a purely political question with which the Supreme Court has no 
concern. 

And I held, as I now hold, that it belongs to Congress, or, pos- 
sibly in some instances, to Congress and the Executive together. 
Yet, again, March 23. 1896, in discussing the Cuban question 

somewhat at length, I said: 

Certainly a state of war exists on tlje Island of Cuba. What is war? Mr. 
President, it is simply an armed conflict between nations or between parts 
of nations. It must be something that rises above a riot; it must be a rebel- 
lion: and so far as Cuba is concerned, it is a rebellion, with a regular mili- 
tary organization upon the part of the insurgents. If that is not a state of 
war in fact, then I am entirely mistaken in my conception of what consti- 
tutes public war. 

And further along: 

My understanding is that about two-thirds of the Island of Cuba, possibly 
three-fourths, is under the dominion of the insurgents under the command 
of Gomez and Maceo and their followers. There is a distinct portion of that 
territory that has on its face as well equipped armies as could be expected 
under the circumstances, where the Republic of Cuba has absolute control 
and dominion over life and property. That is a portion of the territory 
3180 



6 

through which the Spanish forces do not march and over which they do not 
exercise any control. There are well-equipped and drilled armies in the 
field under martial law. I have the number of troops here, to which I am 
going to refer in a moment. If that does not constitute a state of war, ac- 
cording to the definition of the books— if war is to be fought according^ to 
booiis— then I am mistaken in my understanding of what the books define 
to be necessary to constitute war. 

And again: 

Are we to stand here until the Spaniards cut the throats of the Cubans, 
and until the bloody events pass into the permanent history of the country, 
before we take any notice of what is transpiring there? We know that a 
state of war exists there, and the only question, in my judgment, is whether 
we have the patriotism to say that those people in Cuba who are struggling 
for their liberty shall be recognized as belligerents and have equal oppor- 
tunities with the people of Spain in this country and in the ports of this 
country. 

Still again: 

If the struggling patriots of Cuba are entitled to any recognition whatever 
at our hands, why not give them that kind of recognition which will be of 
benefit to them? Why say to the people of Cuba who are waging this war 
for the preservation of their political rights, for the preservation of their 
homes, for the preservation of their wives and children, "We sympathize 
with you, but we can not extend to you aid under these circumstances?" 

Mr. President, it occurs to me that it would be no more cruel to place water 
within the sight of a dying man upon a desert and to say to him, " We sym- 
pathize with you, but we can not give you the water." If we stand here and 
suffer Spain to apply the knife to the throats of the Cubans, we will be justly 
chargeable in the eyes of the civilized world with impotency and with cow- 
ardice. Why not put these resolutions in the form of a joint resolution? 
Why not send them to the President of the United States and say to him, 
" Sign these resolutions, make them a part of the law of the country, or take 
the responsibility of inviting the adverse criticism of your countrymen?" 

A few days ago Senators in this Chamber, to use a phrase which probably 
is not altogether parliamentary, were falling over one another to vote for 
the resolution. There was a wonderful burst of patriotism and patriotic 
sentiment here, among Republicans and Democrats alike— and Populists 
were inspired a little, too— in order to demonstrate to the world by our votes 
that we not only sympathized with Cuba, but that we were willing, if need 
be. to afford her substantial aid under these distressing circumstances. 

Yet our patriotism has been sifting out from that moment to this, until it 
is very doubtful whether the resolutions can pass here to-day. First came 
the senior Senator from Maine [Mr. Hale] antagonizing the resolutions, 
then the honorable senior Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Hoar], and 
finally the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, I guess, has 
concluded that it is about time for him to retreat, and we are offered the 
resolution now before the Senate to recommit the Cuban resolutions for fur- 
ther consideration. I suppose that is the end of it. 

February 24, 1897, I introduced the following resolution: 

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the President should 
speedily and effectually protect the lives and liberties of peaceable American 
citizens residing or sojourning in Cuba, and that he should promptly insist 
that Spain in her war against her colonists in the Island of Cuba should con- 
duct the same on principles of civilized warfare, eliminating all unusual and 
unnecessary cruelty and barbarity; and for the enforcement of these reason- 
ol80 



able and just requirements United States battle ships should be sent with- 
out delay to Cuban waters. 

And on the succeeding day, in discussing and urging its passage, 
remarked: 

It seems to be conclusively established that the Spanish military authori- 
ties in Cuba are gathering up the little girls in that island and selling them 
into a species of slavery, the worst conceivable in the human mind, selling 
them to lives of shame. Above that and beyond that, it seems to be conclu- 
sively established tliat Spanish soldiers have in one or more instances taken 
little infants by the heels, held them up, and hacked them to pieces with the 
deadly machete in the presence of the mothers and the fathers, and then 
have destroyed the mothers and fathers themselves. 

But it does seem to me absolutely humiliating that a government of 72,000,- 
000 people, claiming to be the most powerful government upon the face of the 
earth, with all the means in its hands to settle this question, will sit idly and 
supinely here and make no effort to protect these people, these innocent little 
girls and children, who are being treated with this extreme barbarity from 
day to day. Here is this decaying monarchy of Spain, a blot upon the map 
of the world, a disgrace, Mr. President, to the present civilization of Europe, 
a disgrace to the civilization of the Western Hemisphere; and here is Con- 
gi-ess, with this conduct going on almost within 100 miles of our shores, and not 
a substantial effort is put forth to check it. Mr. President, the time will 
come, and come speedily, unless we take prompt action in this matter, when 
a man will have to hang his head in shame for being an American citizen. 

Again, February 25, 1897, I said: 

For the purpose of testing the question whether we shall have war or 
peace and whether there is any sincerity in these resolutions, I move that 
the Indian appropriation bill be temporarily laid aside and that the joint 
resolution with reference to Julio Sanguily be taken up for consideration. 

May 11, 1897, the Senator from Alabama [Mr. Morgan] having 
introduced a resolution declaring that a conditioii of public war 
existed in Cuba and that neutrality should be maintained, I ob- 
served: 

The world knows that Spain has been guilty of atrocities that no civilized 
nation can sustain either directly or indirectly. The cruelties have been 
without a precedent in the last one hundred years of the world's existence. 
This Government has sent special agent after special agent to Cuba to ascer- 
tain the truth, and yet when we want information from the State Depart- 
ment we have to seek it as supplicants, not as Senators charged with a public 
duty and capable of discharging that duty. We have to appeal to the State 
Department or to the executive branch of the Government for information. 
Repeatedly the Senator from Alabama [Mr. Morgan] has told us what the 
facts are, and he is a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations; and 
yet constantly we have this delay. 

* ****** 

Is it possible that the United States by this indirection is willing to com- 
mit itself to the Spanish policy of atrocity and cruelty? 

Is it possible that the President of the United States, or those who may 

represent him in this Chamber, are willing that these cruelties shall go on 

and that the Senate shall not voice its conviction of Spanish cruelty in Cuba? 

If that is the policy, Mr. President, I feel confident that the people of the 

3180 



United States will condemn it. If that is the policy, it is a cowardly policy 
for any Administration to adopt. The joint resolution ought to be adopted 
unanimously, without a dissenting voice. 

December 8, 1897, I introduced this resolution: 

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that Congress should, with all 
due and convenient speed, acknowledge by appropriate act the political inde- 
pendence of the Republic of Cuba — 

And, in support of it, said: 

Notwithstanding the President has urged the contrary in his message, I 
would not be content or satisfied with a simple acknowledgment of the bel- 
ligerent rights of the people of that island, but I would demand absolute and 
unconditional political libenty and a recognition of the government they 
themselves have formed and to whose sovereignty they owe allegiance. 

The American people believe in political and religious liberty, and they 
are anxious to accord to others what they themselves esteem the birthright 
of all, and I am confident they will not be content with the course advised 
by this, as they were not with that pursued by the preceding, Administration 
in withholding from Ciiba that priceless blessing. 

And farther along: 

We have declared our unchangeable devotion to the doctrine that this 
continent shall be tree soil and be trodden alone by freemen, and yet we sus- 
tain the hold of a tottering and cruel monarchy, the institutions of which are 
passing into decay and which is satisfied only when inflicting on a civilized 
people, struggling for their political independence, the most cruel torture. 
In His own good time, God will call us to account for such rank hypocrisy 
and such a flagrant neglect of public duty. 

February 8, 1898, in speaking on the subject of Cuba, I remarked: 

My attention has been called to the fact that snico the opening of hostili- 
ties between the Republic of Cuba and the Spanish forces in that island 
300,000 paciflcos have died by starvation and disease generated and directly 
traceable to the lack of suflicient food and sanitary conditions. I had a con- 
versation a few days ago with a gentleman who is very familiar with the 
island and the conditions existing there, whose word can not be doubted and 
whose position warrants him in speaking with authority, in which he in 
formed me that it was the custom of the Spanish Government to herd hun 
dreds of families together in sheds and exposed positions, without any sani- 
tary conditions whatever, starving them until disease as a result of their 
starvation intervenes, and that over 300,(X)0 of them had died in consequence 
of that treatment. 

Mr. President, I have quoted freely from my resolutiony and 
remarks, not to exalt myself in the eyes of anyone, but to show 
that in the years that have gone by I have steadfastly advocated 
the political independence embraced in the present discussion. J 
have never wavered in the belief nor lost faith in the fact that 
ultimately Cuba, by force of the public sentiment of this country 
and of the civilized world and by the gallantry of her soldiers, 
would win her freedom and add her name to the republics of 
tliis continent. I have at all times been convinced that sooner or 

3180 



later she would stand forth, perhaps weak at first, but ultiiuatoly 
strong, a splendid young republic added to the grand galaxy of 
republics of the earth. In the hour of her deepest political night, 
when there did not seem a ray of hope or a gleam of light, I felt 
confident that in the providence of (iod she would wrest her lib- 
erty from Spain and proudly take her station in the ranks of seif- 
governed peoples. 

Mr. President, nations, like men, that would accomplish great 
results must not grow weary; they must not hesitate; they must 
not turn back; they must not grow faint-hearted, but persistently 
push on, determined to accomplish their high purpose, and bide 
the time when an awakened sense of right in the enlightened 
world will aid them. 

During the years of Cuba's gallant struggle for liberty — now 
happily, in my jiidgment, almost at an end — there were those who 
said our Governmajit ought to tender its good offices for auton- 
omy under the Spanish flag, while others favored merely the rec- 
ognition of belligerency: but Cuba's true friends, penetrating the 
cloud of darkness, foresaw the outcome of the unhappy and iin- 
fortnnate condition then prevailing. 

Sir. we stand to Cuba as an elder 1)rother. We owe her a duty 
we can not honorably escape. To desert her at this time would 
be base cowardice— a cowardice the people of the United States 
and the men of other generations would not palliate or excuse. We 
are the guardians of liberty on this continent. We must do our 
duty without temporizing or hesitancy, not in a swaggering man- 
ner like the bravado or the bully: not in a way tliat will indicate 
we are moved by prejudice or by passion, but in a manner that 
will convince the world that we believe the time has come at last 
when every foot of American soil occupied by the hideous mon- 
archy of Spain should be wrested from her and be henceforth ded- 
icated to the cause of human freedom. 

I will not weary the Senate with lengthy remarks. I shall not 
take time to define my position, for I have defined it an infinite 
number of times before. I stand now where I stood at the first 
moment the war began — in favor of prompt, unconditional recog- 
nition of the political independence of the Republic of Cuba. 

Our ancestors declared to the world that all men are by nature 

3180 



10 

free and equal and entitled to certain inalienable rights, among 
which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They did 
not confine themselves to the inhabitants of the colonies: they did 
not limit the declaration to the people of the Western Hemi- 
sphere; but they held that all men, under whatever sun they might 
be born or on whatever soil they might live, were created free 
and equal and entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hai)pi- 
ness. 

Sir, I hold human freedom and the right of self-government to 
be as inalienable as the right to breathe the air or to enjoy the 
sunlight, or any of the manifold gifts of God to his people. My 
right to govern myself, if capable of doing so; to believe and act as 
I will, not interfering with the like right of others, and to worship 
the Supreme Being in my own way is as inseparable from my ex- 
istence as life itself. The right of self-government is God-given 
and inalienable, and whoever violates it flies in the face of Provi- 
dence and wrests from the individual the most precious gift of all. 

Mr. President, for forty years the children of Israel wandered 
iu the wilderness, fleeing from Pharaoh and his host of persecu- 
tors and taskmasters. For forty years they sought religious and 
political freedom in desert wastes. They fled from the land of 
oppression and bondage to the land of promise that flowed with 
milk and honey. Their great leader, in the nobleness of his na- 
ture, could not endure to see his people in slavery, compelled to 
make brick without straw for the Egyptians under the lash of 
their cruel masters. To him was revealed the duty of leading his 
brethren and the hosts of Israel to the promised land. They 
started on a journey made memorable by Biblical record — a jour- 
ney unparalleled in the history of the world. 

They had no food for their sustenance, but He who sees even 
the sparrows fall fed them with manna and quail from on high. 
Their raiment was inadequate, but He who clothes the lily of the 
field wonderfully preserved their garments. Their cause was 
right. They trusted to God, who guides the destiny of nations 
and of individuals, and were delivered from the land of captivity 
and bondage and founded a mighty nation, whose people have in- 
creased and spread throughout the earth. 

Mr. President, there is a striking similitude found in the con- 
dition of the Cubans. Twice forty years they have struggled for 



11 

liberty and for freedom from Spanish masters. War has l>een re- 
peatedly waged, thousands of human lives have been lost. While 
the struggle was an unequal one, resulting in disaster to their 
cause, they have been inspired by an unquenchable thirst for free- 
dom by the example we furnished them, and they have persevered 
until now they stand within the dawn of absolute independence 
under the guidance of the master hand of Maximo Gomez. Go- 
mez will occupy a bright page in the history of his countrj% now 
being rapidly written by current events, while Weyler's page will 
be made infamous by murder and assassination. 

Gomez, advanced in years, frail of body, but stout of heart and 
resolute of purpose, can justly be ranked among the great com- 
manders and revolutionists of the century. Almost any other 
man at his time of life would have sought repose rather than war, 
but he chose the field of glory whereon liberty is to be won or lost 
forever for his countrymen. He spurned bribes and offers of posi- 
tion at the hands of a cowardly Spanish dynasty. He is the firm 
and steadfast friend of his people, and has smitten the rock that 
will cause political freedomi to gush forth and save a famishing 
nation. 

Gomez, like his illustrious prototype, may not live to see the 
complete deliverance of his people from the bondage of Spain. 
He may be permitted to view the promised land from some moun- 
tain height and then be lost to the world forever and no man know 
the ijlace of his burial, but the memory of his deeds will live fresh 
in the minds of the people as long as liberty has an abiding ijlace 
on earth. 

The life of Spain, extending over two thousand years, is written 
in innocent blood and is black with crime. Who can turn to the 
history of Cortez's conquest of Mexico from 1518 to 1531 and read 
of the hundreds of thousands of inoffensive men and women who 
were slain without turning from the appalling account sick at 
heart; or to Pizarro's expedition to Peru, where thousands of inno- 
cent lives were sacrificed and the Inca foully murdered after hav- 
ing paid over 4,600,000 ducats as the price of peace for his country; 
or to the account of the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands, whose 
crimes are so vividly portrayed by the historian Motley, without 

being absolutely appalled. 

;ii80 



12 

This savage monster Prst established what is known in history 
as the Blood Council. He destroj^ed all domestic judicial tribu- 
nals, and before himself and his Blood Council the innocent peas- 
antry were brought for trial; but they were not tried. Without 
evidence and without hearing they were indiscriminately sent to 
the stake, to the rope, or to the funeral pile. The sickening ac- 
count of blood and death is thus related: 

Thus the whole country became a charnel house; the death hell tolled hourly 
in every village; not a family but was called to mourn for its dearest relatives, 
while the survivors stalked listlessly about, the ghosts of their former selves, 
among the wrecks of their former homes. The spirit of the nation, within a 
few months after the arrival of Alva, seemed hopelessly broken. * * * The 
blood of its best and bravest had already stained the scaffold; men to whom 
it had been accustomed to look for guidance and protection were dead, in 
prison, or in exile. Submission had ceased to be of any avail, flight was im- 
possible, and the spirit of vengeance had lighted at every fireside. The 
mourners went daily about the streets, for there was hardly a house which 
had not been made desolate. 

The scaffolds, the gallows, the funeral piles which had been sufficient in 
ordinary times, furnished nov." an entirely inadequate machinery for the in- 
cessant executions. Columns and stakes in every street, the doorposts of 
private houses, the fences in the fields, were laden with human carcastes, 
strangled, burned, beheaded. The orchards in the country bore on many a 
tree the hideous fruit of human bodies. Thus the Netherlands were crusked, 
and, but for the stringency of the tyranny which had now closed their 
gates, woiild have been depopulated. 

Mr. President, this is a most striking and vivid parallel of the 
career of We3-ler. That monster went to Cuba with the delib- 
erate and premeditated purpose of depopulating it by every known 
process of extermination. The midnight darkness was made 
lurid by the torch applied to the habitations of a peaceful peas- 
antry and the inhabitants were shot down or hacked to death by 
the machete in the light of the consuming flames. Tho;se who 
were not engaged in the war and gave it no aid or sympathy, old 
men, innocent women, and sucklings, were destroyed indiscrimi- 
nately. 

Women were violated in the most shocking manner and de- 
stroyed, while orphaned children, as they wandered aimlessly 
about, were killed by an idle and reckless soldiery whose occupa- 
tion is murder and whose pastime is pillage. The i)rison was the 
tomb from which none were permitted to escape alive. There 
was universal destruction, devastation, mourning, and ashes. 
Finally, being convinced that death was not speedy enough for 
his purpose, Weyler issued an order that all the pacificos should 
be concentrated at stated places, huddled together like animals, 

3180 



13 

not fiirnislied with food nor permitted to seek it for themselves, 
and, having no sanitary conveniences, they became the victims of 
certain starvation until the record of mortality, as vre are in- 
formed, has reached 500,000 souls. 

We have heard from the Senator from Vermont [Mr. Proctor] , 
from the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Gallinger] , from 
my colleague [Mr. Thurston] , and from the Senator from Mis- 
sissippi [Mr. Money] vivid relations of the sad story of death 
and devastation. In all history a more hideous and cruel charac- 
ter than Weyler can not be found. Cortez, Pizarro, the Duke of 
Alva, and Weyler will stand forth in all ages as typical Spanish 
soldiers, and Weyler will be regarded as the most inhuman of all. 
They are the butchers of the past and present age. The sea-green 
Robespierre in the palmiest days of the French revolution, when 
heads were falling daily by the hundreds, was not more malicious 
or more fiendish than Weyler in Cuba, but 90 miles from our shores. 

Is it to be supposed that the American people, the Christian 
conscience of the world, will longer submit to this wholesale mur- 
der and assassination? Weyler "s rule was absolutism, tempered 
alone by murder and modified by assassination. The aim was 
total extermination of the inhabitants of the island and a repeo- 
pling of that blood-soaked land by willing slaves from Spain and 
other servile countries. 

Mr. President, I pass for a moment only to the sinking of the 
battle ship Maine. According to the recent ciistom of nations an 
armed vessel is permitted to enter the port of a friendly power 
and anchor at such place as may be designated by competent 
authority. The anchorage may be changed at the instance of the 
nation owning the port. It is an act of courtesy recognized by 
civilized governments. It can not be doubted that when an 
armed vessel of one nation enters the port of another and casts 
anchor in her waters at a place designated by her authorities 
there is at least an implied guarantee that the place of anchorage 
is reasonably safe and that no mine or outside explosive is concealed 
beneath the waves to send her to the bottom and the souls of her 
inmates to eternity. 

I am not disposed to discuss the painful circumstances of the 
destruction of the Maine and the loss of life incident thereto. It 
is humiliating, it is mortifying, to say nothing of the inhumanity 

318U 



14 

attending the act. I fully concur in the opinion that Spain must 
be made to atone for this wholesale murder, not by the payment 
of money, for she does not possess gold enough to compensate 
the insult offered this nation, or for one precious human life lost 
in the disaster of February 15. But she must compensate by 
freeing Cuba, by furling her dirty flag and leaving the Western 
Hemisphere never to return again; never, at least, while the Gov- 
ernment of the United States exists and exercises a controlling 
influence in the politics of this continent. 

Mr. President, I am the jingo of jingoes. From the time the war 
broke out between Spain and Cuba I have been the steadfast and 
uncompromising advocate of independence. I have never doubted 
that it would be won, although at times it looked dark; but that 
ultimately the Cubans would be able to wrest their freedom from 
the Spanish throne I have always thought certain, and they stand 
to-day in hailing distance of a new and more perfect civilization. 
Whatever adjustment is made of the Maiiie disaster, one thing 
must be definitely understood— it must not be submitted to the 
arbitrament of foreign powers. Spain must reckon with the 
American people alone. 

Mr. President, possibly I would have exhibited better taste by 
closing my remarks in simply calling attention to the resolutions 
I have offered and the speeches I have made on the subject of 
recognizing Cuban independence, but I have thought it not out of 
place to take a brief general view of the Cuban situation. 

I rejoice to know that the American people have become aroused 
to the extent that they will no longer listen to Spanish lying or 
give ear to Spanish threats. We are not a nation of braggarts; 
we do not seek war with Spain or with any other country. We 
will resort to arms only when our cause is just and when the en- 
lightened judgment of the American people and of the world will 
approve our conduct. But, sir, because we are peace loving it 
must not be thought we are unmindful of the duties imposed on 
us or that our people are lacking in spirit. We at all times seek 
peace rather than war. but not that kind of peace that is to be 
purchased at any price, nor peace with Cuba in chains. In the 
language of the English ballad — 

We don't want to fight, but, by jingo, if we do, 
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money, toa 
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If Spain will hunt down and execute the deadly assassin r/ho, 
nnder cover of darkness, sunk the battle ship Hkiine and sent, 
without warning. 366 souls into the presence of their Maker; if she 
will relinquish her occupancy of Cuba, take down her flag from 
this continent— a flag whose only claim to public attention is that 
it is stained with twenty centuries of innocent blood, cruelty, and 
crime— and leave American soil forever, we will be content. We 
have no greed for Spanish territory nor for Spanish gold. Our 
policy is that of a contented, domestic people. We do not want 
Cuba. We do not even desire to be her guardian. But we are 
determined she shall be free and that for all time we will be 
rid of the close proximity of a nation whose chief occupation is 
the shedding of innocent Idood. 

The torch that has lighted Cuba so long must be extinguished, 
the shrinks of dying women and children must be hushed, broken 
hearts must be bound up. wounds be healed, the prison pens be 
opened, and the people made free. Cuba, now draped in mourn- 
ing, must once more become the gem of the Caribbean Sea. and 
when all these shall have been accomplished, speedily, let us hope, 
the American people can well afford to announce to the world 
that their account with the Spanish. Kingdom is forever closed. 

Sir. if I could have my own way, I would promptly recall our 
minister from Madrid and give Spain's minister at Washington 
his passport. I would close forever the political, financial, and 
commercial relations of the twc nations, and not again permit 
an armed Spaniard to set foot on American soil. 

Mr. President, it is well known that I am thoroughly and un- 
alterably opposed to the President in most of his policies. It 
would be impossible for us to be brought together unless he should 
cease to be a Republican and become a Populist, a thing he prob- 
ably will not do. I have no faith that our country can ever become 
permanently prosperous by an application of the domestic policies 
he would enforce. 

But in this time of great national anxiety, when there is an im- 
pending cloud of war, as one of the Senators of one of the great- 
est and best States of the Union, I am willing to give him my sup- 
port and encouragement and aid him in tho solution of this 
troublesome question. In the presence of the grave circumstances 
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now confronting the American people all mere party differences 
must for the time be laid aside, and all American citizens, re- 
gardless of political affiliation, stand together for the honor and 
glory of their country. 

Sir, in all I have said in behalf of Cuban independence in the 
years gone by, from the time the subject first came to the notice 
of Congress to this moment, my conscience has been my sole guide. 
It has been — 

A lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 

I have said for the Cubans what I would say for any other na- 
tion under like circumstances, and what I would want them to 
say for my country if positions were changed. 

Mr. President, 1 believe Cuba is free. 1 believe but a few more 
days and we will witness the flag of the new Republic, consecrated 
by thousands of human lives, by so much blood, by the tears and 
groans of her people, the wailing of her womanhood and the sacri- 
fice of her childhood, waving in triumph from Pinar del Rio to 
Santiago de Cuba. Then we will be able to exclaim, as did one of 
old: 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Ijecause he hath anointed me to preach 
the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, topreach 
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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HoUinger Corp. 
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